TE24 International Desk:
If the global energy crisis is not enough now as a direct manifestation of the five-month-long Ukraine war, the ongoing peasant protests in Europe over the Dutch government’s proposal to reduce emissions will hit the food supply chain, and supply. Double blow to the world economy.
Faced with growing protests, the EU must balance its food security with the green environment, otherwise the impact of this movement will only hit the global food chain and further increase inflation in the affected countries.
Due to sanctions on oil producers in Russia and West Asia, oil prices have made profits by reducing production to all-time highs, any injury to the global food supply chain will sink small economies and Sri Lanka’s crisis will be replicated on other continents.
While the Ukraine war has become a battleground for Russia and the Western bloc, a massive peasant protest, with intense livestock and proposals to stop the emission of known pollutants from the grain production system, is gaining momentum in the Netherlands.
The level of protest is not only putting pressure on the Dutch government to reconsider its 22 22 billion plan to reduce nitrogen and ammonia emissions by 50-70 percent by 2030, the European Union will also face a tough choice between food security and so on. Like other countries the green environment expresses solidarity with the protests.
Farmers in Germany, Italy, Spain and Poland have also started protesting in solidarity, fearing that their government will implement similar plans to comply with EU regulations. On June 6, German peasants gathered to protest near the town of Herenberg, blocking roads along the Dutch-German border.
Italian farmers have also protested with tractors in rural areas and threatened to protest on the streets of Rome. Polish farmers have taken to the streets of the provincial capital against high interest rates that have destabilized production and threatened their lives.
They also accused the government of allowing cheap food imports. The heat of rising inflation has spread to Spain and farmers in southern Andalusia have blocked highways due to rising fuel prices and the need for rising prices.
In a clear attempt to appease farmers, the EU Parliament has issued a resolution condemning India’s “perverted” sugar subsidy, alleging that it violated the WTO agreement on agriculture and harmed EU sugar producers. .. The resolution has given some relief to the European sugar industry, but has not given up in protest.
The Dutch agricultural sector is responsible for 45% of total nitrogen emissions, and according to the Dutch government’s plan, farmers need to significantly reduce emissions of nitrogen oxides and ammonia produced by livestock. This means that many farms have been forced to shrink and some have closed completely. The government has announced a major investment in housing and technology for farmers, but there is also the option of forcing farmers to sell their land if they do not have enough volunteers to change their technology.
According to one estimate, the Dutch government plans to close 30% of farms by 2030. Efforts to honor the EU’s “green agreement” could fundamentally undermine the country’s lucrative agricultural sector and lead to great uncertainty about the future of traditionally government-sponsored industries. . A Dutch farmer gets angry. 4,444,000 people used tractors to block ports, airports, roads and supermarket distribution centers, set fire to haystacks and dumped manure on government buildings.
There is a shortage of grocers in the supermarkets as protests continue. Other sectors have also begun to take part in the protests, with fishermen blocking the port and several boats pounding to express frustration with rising inflation.
However, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said in favor of plans for the near future that “there is a limit to what the government can do” to help people in the face of rising inflation. This is not the reaction that the average person would expect from his government.
